THE corpses of assisted suicides are being harvested for organs for transplant surgery, a shock report has revealed.

The figures show that 25 percent of all lung transplants in Belgium are from people killed by lethal injection.

The authors of the report even say organs from euthanasia candidates are preferred over those from road traffic accident victims as they are in better condition.

Surgeon Dirk van Raemdonck, who led the study, said all donors had given their consent and doctors – who are admitted to hospital a few hours before the planned euthanasia procedure - were acting well within the law.

But the news raises many new ethical questions.

Dr Peter Saunders, of anti-euthanasia group Care Not Killing, said: ‘Given that half of all euthanasia cases in Belgium are involuntary it must be only a matter of time before the organs are taken from patients who are euthanised without their consent.”